Together Alone
by Angevon
Summary: After the fallout over who was invited to Souji's on Christmas Eve, only one person stays behind to enjoy it with him. [P4HeroXYosuke] [Both 'Souji' and 'Yu' versions are available!]


[Author's notes: If you can believe it, I didn't intend to post this on Christmas Eve but that's just how long it took me to write this nonsense. Oh well, enjoy! It's based vaguely on episode 8 of the P4G anime and a kink meme prompt that I don't have the link for anymore but it went something like this, only it turns into souyo because yeah.

A Yu Narukami version is available at Dreamwidth at the following address:  
angevon dot dreamwidth dot org/35212 dot html  
Every 'dot' should be a '.'

Please enjoy!]

* * *

It would have been a peaceful December 24th... except for all the shouting taking place on the Dojima residence's doorstop.

"What are you doing here?" Rise demanded. "Senpai invited _me_ over today!"

"I have it written down right here," Chie countered, shoving her planner into Rise's face. "He invited me over!"

"You're mistaken," Yukiko said, sounding every bit like a disdainful princess. "Just the other day, he asked me if I would be free today."

Their bickering continued for another minute or so until the front door opened, revealing the cause of all this confusion: one Souji Seta.

His lips turned up at the sight of the group gathered on his front doorstop. "I thought I heard you. You're just in time. I need one of you to run to the store and—"

"Senpai!" Rise interrupted. "What's this about? What are _they,_ " – she swept her hand towards Chie and Yukiko – "doing here?"

Souji blinked at her. "It's all right. There will be enough dinner for everyone."

Despite the aroma of delicious food wafting through the open doorway, the girls were not appeased.

"You invited all of us?" Chie was frowning in disappointment. "But I thought you meant... Your feelings were..."

"Senpai, this isn't funny." Rise had her hands on her hips. "You can't invite more than one girl over on Christmas Eve."

Yukiko agreed. "It's just not done."

"Yeah, even I know that," Yosuke piped up.

Rise whirled around. "Yosuke-senpai? Why are you here?"

"I invited him," Souji answered for him. "I invited Kanji too, but his mother needs him. Here comes Naoto now."

The girls turned as one to find Naoto cautiously approaching. The young detective was wearing full riot gear, including a helmet with a face shield. Considering the girls' venomous feelings towards Souji at the moment, the get-up might even have been appropriate.

"I've made enough dinner for everyone," Souji repeated. "Please come inside."

"Senpai..." Rise followed it with an overdramatic sigh. "Forget it. My heart just can't take this."

"Yeah," Chie agreed. "I'm out. You really know how to kick someone when they're down."

The two girls left in opposite directions. Yukiko turned to Yosuke. "You don't have to stay," she told him.

"And miss out on Souji's cooking?" Yosuke said. "Are you nuts?"

Yukiko subjected him to a withering glare, but he didn't back down, and soon enough she gave up and left, too.

Naoto, perhaps realizing that there wasn't an imminent murder to prevent, or perhaps not caring if one Hanamura was to be the intended victim, also left the scene.

Souji remained, standing in the doorway to his home, frowning and wondering quite innocently what he'd done wrong.

Yosuke sidled up next to him. "So, about that dinner..."

Souji immediately cheered up. "Yes, please come in!"

The concentrated scent of food nearly overwhelmed Yosuke, making his mouth immediately water while he slipped off his shoes in the threshold, though soon enough his nose adjusted. The mess in the Dojima kitchen was proof of the multi-course meal in progress. Souji had prepared a large garden salad in a bowl, and there was some sort of soup simmering in a pot on the stove, another pot of rice being cooked next to it, a ham in the oven—an actual ham! Yosuke was doubly impressed now. How much had Souji spent on this meal?

It was obvious to anyone that Souji really had intended all of his friends to have a Christmas Eve party together with him. It was their loss, Yosuke supposed, for letting their hearts get in the way of their stomachs. He almost swooned with anticipation. "There's no way the two of us can eat all of this," he said, but his stomach was totally willing to give it a try.

"It's okay if there are leftovers," Souji said while stirring one of the pots on the stove. "I wish Teddie and Kanji could have made it."

"Ted said he had a date," Yosuke reported, "and I'm not sure I want to know." What could be more important than dinner with his beloved Sensei, after all?

"Maybe it's Ohtani-san," Souji suggested, and Yosuke pretended to gag. "Beauty is only skin-deep, Yosuke..." he chided.

"In the eye of the beholder, or something," Yosuke muttered. Souji had opened the oven and was pulling out the ham. Yosuke's mouth began to water again. It looked so tender and juicy and, oh, he hadn't had ham in forever!

Souji asked him to wait in the living room while he finished cooking. Yosuke found a brand new kotatsu waiting for him there, and he wasted no time turning it on and settling himself under its soft blanket. He stretched his legs out until his toes were tenting the blanket's far end.

The warmth of the kotatsu had lulled him into a light sleep. He woke up with a start when he felt Souji settling under the blanket at the spot diagonally to his right at the low table. To his surprise, the little table was covered with plates of food.

"We probably shouldn't eat here," Souji murmured, "but this way we'll be nice and warm."

"I'll try not to spill anything!" Yosuke promised, and then he dug into the nearest plate of ham. Souji nodded at him and turned on the TV to some holiday-themed movie. Yosuke continuously gushed over how good the meal was while shoveling it down so fast he might not have actually tasted it, all the while cracking silly jokes about the movie. Since he was Souji's only guest, he felt obligated to make the party as lively as he could. Fortunately it came naturally to him to be so talkative.

Halfway through the meal, Yosuke took out his phone to take pictures of the smorgasbord in front of him that he'd barely put a dent in. He'd make sure the girls regretted their misunderstanding earlier!

I can't believe they thought you were asking them out on a Christmas Eve date, Yosuke mused to himself. He thought about it further and realized he actually could believe it, and then he felt marginally bad for them. Who wouldn't want a Christmas Eve date with Souji? He chuckled to himself as he thought about how funny it was that he was the one here alone with Souji right now!

And then it occurred to him that the reason Souji had invited everyone like that was possibly because he didn't want to be alone this holiday. Nanako-chan and Dojima-san were still in the hospital, after all...

Yosuke vowed then and there to stay with his friend as long as he needed tonight. It wasn't like he had a Christmas Eve date of his own or anything.

He tore into the food with renewed energy. By the time he finally managed to clear his plate, he thought his stomach might burst. "I feel as round as Ted's body!" he announced, leaning back and patting his overstuffed belly. "I'm not going anywhere for a while, unless you have a wheelbarrow."

"I'd look for one in the garden for you," Souji said, "but we'll have to find someone else to wheel me out there, first."

So he was too stuffed to move, too. Yosuke laughed and then regretted it as a pain shot through his side.

With a regretful sigh, Souji pushed away from the kotatsu to clear away the empty plates and bowls. Yosuke offered to help, but Souji just told him to 'hi-bear-nate' and beat a hasty retreat before Yosuke could form any sort of witty comeback.

While Souji was cleaning up in the kitchen and putting leftovers away into myriad plastic containers, Yosuke idly picked at his teeth where a piece of ham got stuck. He noticed then that it was dark outside. He hadn't realized he'd spent so long with Souji, but time flew when he was with his partner. It was always like this.

He'd almost dozed off again from how warm and full he was when his friend finally returned. Before Yosuke knew it, Souji was placing another plate in front of him. "Oh, no, I really can't eat any more!" Yosuke protested.

Souji didn't answer, instead carefully setting down the steaming mug he'd been carrying in his other hand. He pushed it over towards Yosuke, who didn't notice it because he was staring at the contents of the plate.

"You made a Christmas cake, too?" Yosuke was awed. It was a nicely sized triangle of yellow cake covered in strawberries and whipped cream.

"And some hot chocolate," Souji answered. "Surely you saved room for dessert."

Yosuke hadn't, but there was no way he wasn't going to eat this delicious cake.

He only managed a few bites of the sugary confection before he had to give up. Souji was still making his way through it, though, and Yosuke watched him with bemusement. By the frown of concentration on his friend's face—his brow was wrinkled just so—it was obviously taking an effort.

"You can do it," Yosuke encouraged softly, and then Souji's eyes unfocused from the cake in front of him to look at Yosuke instead. It made him self-conscious all of a sudden. He hoped there wasn't any frosting from the cake on his face. There was some on Souji's lips, after all, a little smear on the right side of his mouth.

Then those gray eyes narrowed and focused on the partially-eaten cake in front of Yosuke. "Not going to finish?" Souji asked.

"It might kill me," Yosuke said, spreading his hands in a shrug, "but I could give it another try."

"That's all right. I won't go in for murder today." Souji was smiling now at him, the soft smile that was rare enough to see these days, considering everything that had been happening lately—but he broke the eye contact a moment later to push his plate away on the table. He, too, was giving up.

Yosuke took a moment to check his phone in case Teddie was trying to get his attention. Indeed, there was a text from the bear imploring him to make it "A beary merry Christmas for Sensei!" Yosuke shook his head in amusement—a bear joke, even in a text message?—but then he noticed what time it was.

"Do you need to go home soon?" Souji asked, correctly interpreting the expression on his face. "Your family is probably wondering where you are."

"Oh, no, I'm staying!"

The vehemence of his words surprised Souji. It was fun to see his eyes widen so much, and then the smile on his face returned, and it was so worth it.

Yosuke grinned at him. "I can't let you be alone on Christmas Eve, partner."

Souji blinked. He glanced down at the table, and, after a moment of hesitation, set his hand atop Yosuke's there. "Thank you," he said quietly.

My pleasure, Yosuke wanted to say, the words he had been trained to say in response to customers at Junes, but he hesitated, because with Souji's hand on his, he became very aware that they were alone together, and it was Christmas Eve. The night you were supposed to spend with a loved one...

It gave Yosuke the sudden desire to show Souji how much he appreciated him. "Say, partner?" he said. "I'm gonna do something weird. Just because it's almost Christmas, okay?"

Souji didn't answer, but his fingers curled over Yosuke's hand on the table, and that was all the encouragement Yosuke needed. After taking a deep breath, Yosuke leaned in over the kotatsu, closed his eyes, and planted a quick peck to the corner of Souji's mouth.

His face warmed with embarrassment at his own audacity. "Thanks for the meal," he said by way of explanation, and then he tried to scurry away.

Except he couldn't, because Souji was holding him close. Their faces were barely an inch apart.

"Yosuke..." Souji murmured, and Yosuke felt his warm breath on his face and neck.

So close to his friend, Yosuke could see the flecks of blue in his silvery-gray eyes... and then those eyes were half-lidded, and Yosuke was about to say something, and then Souji's tongue was brushing against his lips and they were actually kissing.

Yosuke melted into the kiss with an embarrassing moan. Souji's lips were chapped and thin, but they tasted of hot chocolate and some frosting from that yellow cake, and Yosuke decided that maybe he was hungry for more as he returned the kiss with more passion than he'd ever imagined using with another boy.

Before he knew it, Souji had fallen backwards onto the floor, and Yosuke had moved with him. Now they were both on the floor, facing each other, breathing heavily, the kotatsu blanket draped haphazardly over their legs.

The smile on Souji's face now was more brilliant than any of the smiles he'd worn earlier in the day, and Yosuke found himself unable to look away from his friend.

Souji finally worked his mouth. "M-Merry Christmas."

"Y-yeah," Yosuke answered. "Merry Christmas, partner."


End file.
